The Maharashtra Congress on Friday sought the arrest of radical Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide, whose name was linked to the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon clashes, after the latter allegedly made a statement questioning the parentage of Mahatma Gandhi. The Hindutva leader’s remarks provoked the ire of the Congress in the Assembly today.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan demanded Bhide’s arrest for the latter’s “shameless” remarks against the father of the nation at event in Amravati district. There, Bhide had claimed, “It is said that Mahatma Gandhi’s name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but Karamchand Gandhi was not Mahatma Gandhi’s father. A Muslim landlord was his real father.... Karamchand, while working for a Muslim landlord, had defrauded the man and had run away. The Muslim landlord in anger had then forcefully brought Karamchand’s wife to his own home,” Bhide had said.
“In Amravati, Sambhaji Bhide made a shameless and derogatory remark against the father of the nation, calculated to spread hatred and divisiveness in society. This person must be arrested immediately. How can he roam free after making derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi?” Mr. Chavan said in the Assembly.
Observing that Bhide had been making controversial remarks designed to aggravate social tensions for several years now, the Congress leader demanded Bhide be immediately booked under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, language, etc.) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Speaker Rahul Narwekar instructed the State government to take appropriate action on the issue raised by Mr. Chavan. While Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the government will look into the statement made by Bhide before taking any action, the Congress legislators demanded Bhide be booked immediately.
Speaking to reporters later, State Congress chief Nana Patole said that Bhide was “a puppet of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).... The manner in which he [Bhide] has made statements about great personages like Mahatma Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar is appaling. If the State government does not act soon, we will escalate the matter in the Assembly next week,” Mr. Patole said.
Bhide, who heads the fringe Sangli-based outfit Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, had been associated with the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the past, which he left to found his own outfit in the 1980s.
Among his fervent admirers include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, both of whom regard him as an exemplar of austerity and an inspirational teacher.
FIRs had been lodged against Bhide and fellow Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote, who is the executive president of the fringe Hindutva outfit Samasta Hindu Aghadi, in the immediate aftermath of the Bhima-Koregaon riots of January 1, 2018.
Despite being named in the FIR, probe agencies have not yet thoroughly investigated Bhide for his role in inciting the clashes.
In June 2018, Bhide had courted controversy yet again after claiming that mangoes from his farm had allegedly cured impotency, prompting a storm of criticism from political parties and rationalist organisations.
